ABOUT the HOPE Program

HOPE, for Helping Our Pupils Excel, began as a literacy volunteer project started in the summer of 2006 through the vision of a small group of community leaders. These leaders saw an unmet need in the DeKalb Central schools many students are entering school with needs that go beyond what the traditional schools can provide. What if each of these children was matched with a community volunteer who would meet with the student for an hour each week. Together, the two would work to help the student succeed as a reader while having fun.

By fall 2006, HOPE had four partners, 20 volunteers, a volunteer training curriculum, and teachers at J.R. Watson, McKenney-Harrison, and Waterloo Elementary schools who had begun identifying students that they felt could benefit from a one-on-one relationship with a caring adult to instill confidence and a love of reading.

As of May 2008, 57 trained HOPE volunteers were tutoring or mentoring 75 children as they became more confident students in five elementary schools. Some of the HOPE volunteers even chose to help children learn simple math skills. Teachers began to notice that students with HOPE tutors/mentors were demonstrating not just improved academic performance, but improved self-esteem.

In May 2009, 80 volunteers served more than 100 students, including a few in the middle schools. Partners include the DeKalb County Central and Garrett-Keyser-Butler school districts, Alcoa Automotive, Auburn-Butler Chamber Partnership, Auburn Church of the Nazarene, Auburn Rotary, and the DeKalb County Community Foundation.

HOPE has recently formed a board of directors, incorporated in the state of Indiana and is a 501c3 non-profit organization as DeKalb County HOPE, Inc.

HOPE's long-term goal is to continue expanding into the county's schools until every DeKalb County student in need of an additional caring adult in his or her life has a HOPE volunteer.